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Isaiah, Prophet of Salvation, Book 5, part 26

The Jubilee sign that Isaiah gave Hezekiah in Isaiah 37:30-32 was also important because it was given ten years late. Dating from Israel’s Jordan crossing, when they were supposed to begin counting the years toward their Sabbath years and Jubilee, the year 722-721 B.C. was their 14^th Jubilee year.

This was the sixth year of Hezekiah in Jerusalem, the year that Samaria fell to the Assyrian invaders (2 Kings 18:10). There is no evidence that Hezekiah actually kept that Jubilee. In fact, none of the kings of Israel or Judah actually kept any of their Jubilees or rest years. We know this because God held them liable for this. I proved this in my book, Secrets of Time.

The Assyrians invaded Judah eight years later in the fourteenth year of Hezekiah (2 Kings 18:13). This was the year 713 B.C. It probably took some time to conquer and deport the 46 cities of Judah, but while the king of Assyria was laying siege to Lachish near the southern border, he sent Rabshakeh to give Hezekiah the ultimatum. Again, we do not know precisely how much time passed, but it was long enough for Assyria to capture Lachish and move on to Libnah, where Rabshakeh reported to the king (2 Kings 19:8).

King Hezekiah appealed to Isaiah, who gave him a promise of deliverance and the Jubilee sign as a double witness. The sign itself spoke of a three-year period of time, where the people would not be able to sow or reap their crops in the first two years but would be able to do so in the third year.

These three years, at least from the prophetic standpoint, began with the Assyrian invasion of Judah, when the people were unable to sow and reap. Hence, these years began in the fourteenth year of Hezekiah (713 B.C.), which was eight years after the fall of Samaria in 721 B.C.

The third year of the Jubilee prophecy, then, was 711 B.C., which was ten years after the fall of Samaria. We see from this that essentially God was establishing a Jubilee ten years late.

Reversing Time

When Hezekiah was healed of his infection from the “boil” in Isaiah 38, he was given another sign that ties closely with the Jubilee sign in the previous chapter. The sign was that the sun’s shadow would be reversed ten steps on the sundial. In other words, God would reverse time. But for what purpose? How was this a sign of Hezekiah’s deliverance?

The key is found in the word “return” or “go back.” The shadow of the sun was to “go back ten steps” (Isaiah 38:8). In the Jubilee sign, God said in Isaiah 37:34, “By the way that he came, by the same he will return.” Again, the prophecy in Isaiah 37:29 concluded, saying, “And I will turn you back by the way which you came.” In each case, the Hebrew word shuwb is used, which means “to return, turn back, go back.”

Hence, just as God caused the Assyrian king to “return” to Assyria, so also God caused the shadow on the sundial to “return” ten steps. The first sign was about the timing of the Jubilee declaration; the second showed how the Jubilee could be declared ten years late and still be lawful and on time. While the declaration came ten years late, God reversed the time “ten steps,” turning back the clock in order to make the Jubilee declaration in 711 B.C retroactive to 721 B.C.

Hence, the fourteenth Jubilee was declared at the proper time, though ten years late. The God who created time is the Lord of Time and has the power to manipulate it according to His word to accomplish His purposes.

The Prophetic Application

In October of 1994, I drove with two others to Winnipeg in Canada to speak at a Bible conference. It was a long trip from Seattle, giving me a lot of time to think, pray, and discern the voice of God. God pointed out the story of Hezekiah, but I could not quite understand what He was showing me. We arrived at the hotel about midnight and after checking in, we immediately went to bed.

But just before going to bed, I opened my Bible to the story of Hezekiah and only then did I begin to understand what He was showing me. We were repeating the three-year Jubilee sign that Isaiah had given to Hezekiah.

Earlier, in 1991, I had come to see that 1986-1987 was the 120^th Jubilee from Adam. (See Secrets of Time.) The problem was that no one in authority had declared the Jubilee at the proper time. But 1994 was eight years after that Jubilee. The year 1996 would be ten years after the Jubilee. I knew then that the timing of that conference in Winnipeg in October of 1994 marked the time of the eighth year. The stage was being set to declare the Jubilee in 1996. We knew that God would then make it retroactive to 1986 so that the 120^th Jubilee from Adam would be effective.

In other words, we were experiencing the same revelation that Isaiah gave to Hezekiah long ago. In Hezekiah’s day, the Jubilee was real, yet it was only a type and shadow of greater things to come in our own time.

I was led to teach about this at the Bible conference in Winnipeg. Two years later, on the Day of Atonement, September 23, 1996, I was led to declare the 120^th Jubilee from Adam, bearing witness in the world to what God was declaring in heaven. This, I believe, was a declaration of deliverance and healing in our time, even as it was in the days of Hezekiah. Because faith comes by hearing, this revelation solidified my faith that God would indeed deliver us from Mystery Babylon. I believe that God will cause the king of Babylon to return back (shuwb) in the way that he came.

In a more positive side to this prophecy, the world as a whole will see a great “return” to God in the form of repentance, for that too is the meaning of shuwb. Whereas Hezekiah was witnessing the fourteenth Jubilee, we are witnessing the 120^th Jubilee. Fourteen is the biblical number for release and deliverance; but 120 is the number associated with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

Both numbers are highly significant, but we are seeing a greater fulfillment in our time, because the Holy Spirit will change the hearts of the people and bring them into the image of Christ.

Having heard the revelation of God in 1994 and having followed through with the declaration in 1996, this is a matter of faith to me. Others may question my hope of seeing this great end-time outpouring of the Holy Spirit, but it is a reality to me. Others may think we are entering a time of the rule of “Antichrist,” but I have already seen by the Spirit the fall of “Antichrist.”

Though we are today as threatened as Hezekiah was in his day, I have heard the word of deliverance and have borne witness of God’s intent to deliver us as well. Those who have not received such a word can only stand aside and see what might happen. Soon-coming events will prove whether or not the word I received was truly from God.